Cooking Site Believed to be that of the Donner Party

Archaeologists are looking into the discovery of a site where it is believed the infamous Donner party was once stranded.

A cooking hearth has been discovered in the Sierra Nevada with bone fragments around it that appear to be human. The legend of the Donner party is the possibly the country's most famous tale of cannibalism.

Researchers say the group of 81 family members was traveling to California when they became stranded by snow in the winter of 1846. History says that when the food ran out they resorted to first eating their dogs and then each other.

Archaeologists say the bone fragments found at the site are large enough to run DNA tests on to determine if they are human.

If so, it would be the first physical evidence backing survivors accounts of cannibalism.